Thursday, March 18, 2010

deviled egg, anyone?

Today was the big Match Day at the Stanford School of Medicine.

(Graham and I with my coworker, Caroline. And my mom making a funny face in the background. Proof she was actually there with me.)

10:00am on Match Day is when graduating medical students around the country open up envelopes to find out where they are going for their residencies, or, in other words, where they are going to spend the next 3, 4, 5, 6 years of their lives. It's exciting. It's nerve-racking. Even tear-jerking. I tear up every year.

I get to prepare the envelopes. THE envelopes. I love it. I guard the envelopes with my life until they are passed out to the students at 10am on the dot. Students scream with delight. Jump up and down. Cry for joy. Celebrate with family members. Some students aren't so excited as they realize they didn't get their top choice. Or their second. Or third. But they are happy they matched.

This year my mom brought Graham. Lots of the students wanted to see him. After all, one of the graduating students actually delivered Graham. The two of them were briefly reunited. It was special for me. The medical student is going to San Diego to become a pediatrician. Perhaps he'll be back here some day and he can be Graham's pediatrician. I would be okay with that.

The celebrations took place in the brand new LKSC building at the medical school. We were lucky enough to be the first event to take place in the building. It isn't even open yet! We had the powers that be pull some strings.

My mom even helped break the new building in. We were standing around talking and she looked down at her plate and said "Oh! Oh no! I had a deviled egg on my plate!" Only there was no longer a deviled egg on her plate. It had escaped. Slippery little bugger. Sure enough, there it was on the floor about 10 feet away. Face down. Mayonnaisey egg getting reeeal comfortable with the brand new carpet. Ha! Hey, it was bound to get dirty some time.

What a fun morning. Thank you, Christian, for getting Graham ready to come hang out at Match Day! Thank you, Mom, for coming and celebrating with us! Thank you, medical students, for giving us a reason to celebrate! Not that any medical students read my blog, but Congrats to them anyway. They're awesome.

UCSF has a new rule about having Step 2 results before you are matched. We never require our students to do that, so I'm wondering if that maybe has anything to do with it. You're in Radiation Oncology, right?

We hand out the envelopes in small groups and they can go outside to open them if they want. Students can technically get their results online at the same time, so they don't even have to take part in the envelope tradition. And some don't. But you're right. Sucks for the ones who aren't jumping up and down.

Brent says that Match Day here is CRAZY. Everyone brings their entire family and they pack into a relatively small room (he said he could barely breathe in there, let alone move around) and they count down from 10 and everyone rips open their envelopes!! I'm already kind of stressed out about it, and it's a year away! I can't believe it's only a year though...3 down, 1 to go.

Btw...Brent is going to be applying for his away rotation at Stanford soon, which is also crazy!

HAHAHAHA! When you told me earlier it was match day I was only thinking of March madness. And I did think it was odd that the medical school was so excited, but then didn't give it another thought. I'm with Ella, this makes me want to go to medical school. And go to school in Brazil or something fun and exotic. hahhaha!

I laughed again just reading your description of my missing egg. You forgot to mention that I did an excellent job of cleaning it up. Since I'm sure I won't be going to medical school, it really was fun to be part of the experience, if even just for a few hours.

Courtney--I can't believe you guys are only one year away!! When is he looking to do a rotation here at Stanford? And which rotation?? So exciting! You'll have to come have lunch with me. :) And I actually really like the idea of counting down from 10 to open the envelopes! I might have to suggest that next year.

Ella and LJ--Nothing makes me want to go to med school. Who wants to work that hard?? Ha!

Ashley and Jenni--Yes. I am the keeper of the envelopes. Someday when I prepare the Academy Awards envelopes, I will ask you both to help me.

Mom--I laugh every time I think of that deviled egg. Poof! And it was gone!